November 30, 2009

Paradise in winter

A few months ago in my neighborhood appeared this billboard advertisement that was not advertising anything that I could tell. It says, "Welcome to the New Paradise, You, A Lonely Wild Cat." Well, I feel that way here sometimes, so it just made me smile and wonder. It is huge, obvious, lit up at night, and visible from my front window, floating above the brownstones. Of course it turns out to be more art in the hood. Part of Itziar Barrio's triune installation in three boroughs, this Brooklyn one, called "Return," plays with an icon of Caribbean residents, whose homeland palm trees mark so many signs in this corner of the concrete jungle. Meanwhile, here are three murals I walk by every day, two of which face each other on the corner, with a third on the wall of the community garden. Even better, the Garvey-Malcolm-Marley montage really comes to life as featured in this recent Dead Prez video, where you can also see background footage of all the good stores we visit on Fulton Street.--JEB